Bennett Miller
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39 Movies Released in 2014 Shot on 35mm
Last year, I posited that Boyhood‘s use of 35mm seemed to be a kind of special effect as much as anything: committing to film ensured an internally continuous look over 12 years of production whose uniqueness would survive despite a digital intermediate and no prints being struck for American release. This type of use of 35mm, separate from its ongoing viability as an exhibition format, was one common reason cited for its use in 39 2014 US releases originating in whole or substantial part from it. That’s a list that’s probably not complete: collating the release calendar against the technical specifications primarily quickly […]
by Vadim Rizov on Jan 15, 2015 -
He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother: Foxcatcher
One of the more graceful film segments in recent memory, a literally winning one at that, takes place about an hour into the wrestling drama Foxcatcher, directed with patience and precision by Bennett Miller (Moneyball, Capote, The Cruise). In it, each of four males labors in his own way. Straight out of small-town Wisconsin, impressionable prole Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum), heavyweight Gold Medal winner at the 1984 L.A. Olympics, is already under the spell of wealthy, patriotic, and highly educated John du Pont (a career-best Steve Carell) — less eccentric than deranged, the middle-aged heir to the chemical fortune and […]
by Howard Feinstein on Nov 14, 2014 -
“It’s Such a Weird Story”: Bennett Miller on Foxcatcher
When I wrote about Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher a couple of months ago after seeing it at the Telluride Film Festival, I called it “extraordinary… a subtle yet extremely unnerving examination of how family, class, and competition inform and are informed by the American dream.” There’s always a little danger in writing about a movie in the heat of film festival hysteria, as one can easily overrate (or underrate) a film under the pressure of weighing in with an immediate opinion. In the time since Telluride, however, my admiration for Foxcatcher has only grown upon reflection; the supremely confident restraint of Miller’s visual style and the psychologically and […]
by Jim Hemphill on Nov 13, 2014 -
Wanting to Like Everything: The Telluride Film Festival
The 41st annual Telluride Film Festival kicked off with a packed screening of Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now featuring Coppola, screenwriter John Milius (still recovering from his debilitating stroke but in great spirits), cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, producer Fred Roos, and editor and sound designer Walter Murch in attendance for a post-film Q&A. It was the kind of event that represents what Telluride does best as a kind of summer camp for movie lovers: presenting a great film impeccably projected before an appreciative crowd in a casual, conversational atmosphere. There’s something about the environment of Telluride — both the gorgeous Colorado […]
by Jim Hemphill on Sep 5, 2014 -
BENNETT MILLER, RY RUSSO-YOUNG, JONATHAN AMES TO APPEAR AT IFP’S “SCRIPT TO SCREEN”
The IFP’s popular conference for writers and writer/directors, Script to Screen, returns to the 92nd St. Y Tribeca on Saturday, March 17 with a program that promises to mix practical advice with freewheeling programs intended to generate creative sparks. The day’s program features a keynote presentation by Bennett Miller, the Oscar-nominated director of Moneyball and Capote, and a Screenwriter’s Roundtable featuring up-and-coming auteurs Ry Russo-Young (Nobody Walks), Leslye Headland (Bachelorette), Madeline Olnek (Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same) and Liza Johnson (Return). As a promising change of pace from traditional panels, Script to Screen also features a pair of interactive […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 5, 2012
